Daily Richmond Whig

ILLINOIS.—The following extract of a letter, dated at Rushville, (in the Military Tract,) Schuyler county, Illinois, July 31st, to a merchant of N. York, gives an interesting account of the flourishing condition of that section of our country.

"Are you aware of the rapid growth of this country? It is surpassing all calculations; little towns are springing up in almost every quarter, and the whole country seems to be in a state of the most rapid improvement. It is said by old settlers in Ohio that it never improved so fast as this.—In returning from Carrolton a few days since, I fell in company with a gentleman from Burlington, Vermont—he had come to see the country—he came with me to Beard's ferry, or Beard's town, close on the east side of the Illinois River, (a little above the base line, say one mile) and would come no farther,—said with what information I had given him about the Military tract, and what he had seen of the country, he was fully satisfied; he would go home and sell his property and move immediately. He said he should not dare to speak the truth about this country, when he got home—that the people in Vermont would not believe him if he did, because the description would surpass any thing that would be credible in his country. The future growth and wealth of this country is hardly to be anticipated. Considering the extent of country, the superior quality of the soil, the many commercial and agricultural advantages, surrounded by navigable streams or lakes on all sides, with the Illinois River (one of the most beautiful streams in the world for navigation) running almost directly through the centre of the State, and when the Canal shall be open, affording at all times a choice of Northern, Eastern or Southern markets—I say in considering all these advantages, the mind is lost in wonder and amazement, at what must and will be the future destiny of this country—those who live to see fifty years will see splendid cities in Illinois. I mentioned that the gentleman from Vermont came with me to Beardstown; that town in November last had 4 or 5 cabins or log houses and one small frame, and no store—now it has some thirty or forty houses mostly framed, one very large two story brick house, a large steam merchant mill, four stores (dry goods) and one book store.—Many other towns in the State are increasing quite as rapidly, and are on the advance—you may think the improvements I mention are not very rapid, because you had a Rochester, a Waterloo, and some other towns in your state, spring up like mushrooms in a night—but there is a difference between the countries—one is almost a wilderness, (but for the prairies,) without people, without capital, without enterprize, without any advantages but what nature has given, and almost without any thing to improve with—while the other is an old settled, and a wealthy country, possessing almost every advantage that nature and art can bestow. I have given you a general view of the present state of improvement in Illinois—the habits and morals of the people are improving quite as fast as the face of the country—society is undergoing a vast change in the western country generally."